语用学Chapter 3 Presupposition陈新仁何自然何伟.pdfVIP

Chapter Three Presupposition Contents • I. Definition of Presupposition • II. Properties of Presupposition • III. Presupposition and projection • IV. Presupposition and entailment • V. Types of presuppositions • VI. Functions of presupposition 2 I. Definition of Presupposition (1) Shared assumptions (Peter Grundy, 1995) (2) Background assumptions against which the main import of an utterance is assessed. The relation is something like the figure and ground in Gestalt psychology: the figure of an utterance is what is asserted or what is the main point of what is said, while the ground is the set of presuppositions against which the figure is assessed. 3 II. Properties of Presupposition 1. Associated with particular aspects of surface structure, called presupposition trigger. Karttunen collected thirty-one kinds of such triggers. 4 1.1 Definite description (Strawson, 1950, 1952): the , this/ that + NP, the 3rd person pronoun, proper nouns, possessive + n John saw the man with two heads. There exists a man with two heads. 1.2 Factive verbs or adjective phrase (Kiparsky Kiparsky, 1971) : regret, realize, know, glad, proud, sorry, sad Martha regrets drinking John’s home brew. Martha drank John’s home brew. 5 The “fact-S” structure The fact that Pat wanted to talk to Stephen is odd. The fact of Pat’s wanting /having wanted to talk to Stephen is significant. That Pat wanted to talk to Stephen is exciting. Pat’s wanting/having wanted to talk to Stephen matters to me. It ’s tragic that Pat wants to talk to Stephen. H